Saturday, May 20, 2017

Decolonization in the Caribbean #5: Chair in Crisis

The Chair for the committee of 24 is Rafael Carreño Ramirez who is the permanent representative to the UN from Venezuela. He opened the seminar in St.
Vincent with a statement, but soon had to leave the conference, with one of the
committee’s vice-chairs, from the Russian Federation taking over.

This regional seminar is taking place in the seventh year of
the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism. The United
Nations sometimes sets large goals for itself or its programs, hoping to
achieve substantive results or progress within a generous time period. The UN
attempted a similar thing with regards to decolonization, establishing ten year
periods during which is was to work towards achieving significant progress with
regards to eradicating colonialism from the world.

Over the past 17 years, no territories have moved closer in
any measurable ways towards self-determination or decolonization. The last territory
to be removed from the list of non-self-governing territories was East Timor,
now Timor Leste, which had become independent in 1975 but was forcibly and
violently annexed by Indonesia in 1976. Only after decades of international
pressure was Indonesia eventually forced to give up their claim and allow Timor
to regain its independence.

Since that time however, no other territories whether in the
Pacific, the Caribbean or the Atlantic have made notable progress. The
International Decade framework is meant to help animate a stagnant process, but
giving a timeline or a deadline, by which you can slowly work towards
implementing or actualizing something. There are just three years left until
the end of this Third International Decade. There will most definitely be a
fourth, but it is very disappointing to think that the UN made no headway on
the issues of decolonization for two decades!

The chair’s statement reflected the need to show some
concrete plans or actions before the end of the decade. He encouraged everyone,
experts, territorial representatives and country reps to bring their ideas to
the table and be prepared to dialogue over them in such a fashion, to
eventually come to tangible plans that could help rejuvenate the movement to
eradicate colonialism from the world. The first day of the seminar was quite
engaging, as a number of proposals were suggested, in order to help engage
recalcitrant administering powers or apathetic non-self-governing territories.

Chair Ramirez disappeared however after the first day. The
duties of overseeing the meeting were taken over by one of the committee’s
vice-chairs Stansilav Aleksaev from Russia. We did not hear formally about the
chair or his absence for the rest of the seminar.

It was eventually clear however that the Committee chair had returned to UN headquarters in New York to address the crisis that has been growing in his country, with thousands protesting and police having killed more than 40. The US has imposed sanctions and also brought the issue before the UN Security Council, to which Ramirez, as the permanent representative to the UN from his country, had to respond.

If you haven’t been following the crisis in Venezuela, here
are some recent articles:

(BOGOTA,
Colombia) — The Trump administration is imposing sanctions on members
of Venezuela's Supreme Court following a series of rulings that the U.S.
says has usurped power from the nation's opposition-controlled congress
and sparked a deadly wave of unrest.

The
U.S. Department of Treasury announced Thursday it is freezing the
assets of eight Venezuelan government officials on the Supreme Court in
an effort to support the Venezuelan people "in their efforts to protect
and advance democratic governance."

A
ruling issued in late March that stripped Venezuela's congress of its
last powers was later reversed amid a storm of international criticism.
But near-daily anti-government protests were triggered by the ruling and
have continued across the country, with more than 40 people killed.

The U.S. move marks the second round of sanctions Trump has imposed on high-level Venezuelan officials since taking office.

SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela -- Legions of national
guardsmen and military helicopters began descending on a western
Venezuela state Wednesday where an outbreak of looting and political
violence left at least three people dead in as many days, raising the
nationwide death toll in a wave of unrest to at least 43.

Fifteen-year-old
Jose Guerrero died in San Cristobal on Wednesday after going out the
previous afternoon to purchase flour and being shot near a protest,
authorities said. His death means the number killed in nearly two months
of protests and street clashes is likely to surpass that seen in the
country's last political upheaval in 2014, when 43 people died during
three months of demonstrations against the socialist government.

Top military commanders announced they were sending 2,000 national
guardsmen and 600 troopers from special operation forces to Tachira, a
mountainous state along Venezuela's border with Colombia where Guerrero
and two others have been killed during protests since Monday.

A
rash of violence across Tachira this week has left dozens of businesses
looted, 11 police stations set aflame and nervous residents scrambling
to buy what food they can find. Public transportation was shut down
Wednesday, many businesses closed and long lines snaked to the few
operating ATMs.
"From this moment we are not going to permit any
more violent or terroristic acts," said Jose Morantes Torres, commander
of a regional defense force overseeing operations.

By late
Wednesday afternoon, helicopters could be seen arriving at Tachira's
military airport. Hundreds of national guardsmen in green uniforms were
patrolling areas where protests have taken place, while others stood in
front of grocery stores and other shops and some kept watch from armored
trucks.

The military operation comes as President Nicolas Maduro faces
mounting international pressure to hold elections and refrain from using
tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters. Anti-government street
mobilizations that began after the nation's Supreme Court issued a
ruling stripping congress of its last powers in late March are
continuing on a near-daily basis. Meanwhile, the death toll is rising at
a steady clip and is likely to surpass the 2014 protest fatalities in
about half the time.
The growing list of casualties puts both the government and the opposition in increasingly strained positions, analysts said.

Deaths,
which are often captured on cellphone cameras and shared widely online,
will probably further isolate Venezuela's government from international
public opinion. But the bloodshed also raises the question of how much
longer the opposition can call on its supporters to take the risk of
going into the streets, said Christopher Sabatini, a professor at
Columbia University.

"The opposition has the moral upper hand, but
as long as the government refuses to yield and kill its own citizens,
how much longer can this go on?" Sabatini said.

Arrests have been
made in just eight of the deaths, five of which involved police
officers, according to the chief prosecutor's office. Maduro's
government blames the opposition for the violence, saying they are
purposely fomenting unrest in order to remove him from power. Opposition
leaders deny that and say heavy-handed officers and armed,
pro-government militias known as "colectivos" are responsible.

The
violence in Tachira began Monday after several weeks of largely
peaceful protests. That day, the minister of the nation's prison system
was in San Cristobal to promote Maduro's push to resolve the crisis by
convening a special assembly to rewrite Venezuela's constitution, a
proposal the opposition rejects.

With her arrival, residents say,
also came bands of "colectivos" who threatened protesters. Videos shared
on social media by Tachira residents show armed men in masks roaming
the streets on foot and motorcycles and in some cases appearing to open
fire.

On Monday afternoon, Luis Alviarez, 18, and Diego Hernandez,
33, were fatally shot during separate demonstrations. Videos of both
incidents were distributed online, showing the two men lying lifeless on
the pavement.

By Wednesday, residents in San Cristobal woke up to
discover dozens of businesses had been looted. Public transportation
was shut down, the state's agricultural industry - a critical provider
of Venezuela's fruits and vegetables - paralyzed and people worriedly
lined up at ATMs to withdraw cash.

Guerrero, the latest casualty,
was taken to a hospital Tuesday after being shot and died Wednesday
morning after undergoing surgery, authorities said. Speaking outside a
hospital, his sister lashed out at Maduro and blamed national guard
officers for her brother's death.

"I hate you with all my heart," she said, crying. "He was a boy of 15."

*******************

Has Venezuela reached a tipping point?

Al Jazeera

May 19, 2017

Waves of anti-government protests continue to rock Venezuela as its economic and political crises deepen.

Is there a way forward?

In this UpFront special, we speak to the secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, about his stance on Venezuela.

And in the Arena, we debate whether the Venezuelan government is authoritarian.

Headliner - What can be done to rescue Venezuela?

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been facing mounting
criticism from international observers as his government continues to
struggle with protests on the streets.

One of his fiercest critics has been Luis Almagro, the head
of the Organization of American States (OAS), who says the struggle
afflicting Venezuela isn't about power, but democracy.

"This is not a struggle for power, but a struggle for
democracy," says Almagro, who believes that cancelling last year's
recall referendum was an attack on Venezuela's democratic institutions.
"The legitimacy of origin of this government was killed when they denied the recall referendum to the people."

In this week's Headliner, we challenge OAS chief and former
Uruguayan foreign minister Luis Almagro about his stance on Venezuela.

With the economy in freefall, protesters have hit the streets and violence is on the rise.
Has the Venezuelan government gone authoritarian?

"It's important to say Nicolas Maduro was democratically
elected," says Gabriel Hetland, a professor at the University of Albany.
"But I think actions over the last 16 months have moved Venezuela
unfortunately in a more authoritarian direction."

"It is a government under siege," counters
Venezuelan-American journalist Eva Golinger, who also served as an
adviser to former President Hugo Chavez. "The opposition doesn't play by
democratic rules, unfortunately has not, and as of yet we haven't seen
any such initiative or indication that they will in the near future."

In this week's Arena, Gabriel Hetland and Eva Golinger debate different perspectives on the crisis in Venezuela.

The United States called Wednesday's first-ever U.N. Security Council
consultations on Venezuela because the crisis is getting worse and the
Trump administration wants to prevent another conflict like Syria, North Korea or South Sudan, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said.

Venezuelan Ambassador Rafael Ramirez strongly rejected the U.S. bringing
his country's political dispute to the United Nations' most powerful
body and accused Washington of again trying "to interfere in our
domestic issues."

Haley said the U.S. intention wasn't to be "intrusive" or "heavy-handed"
but to support regional efforts to find a political solution and "show
respect for the Venezuelan people" who want free and fair elections, the
release of political prisoners and the worsening humanitarian situation
addressed.

"We think if that doesn't happen we will certainly be hearing this in
the Security Council because it will be a real problem — not just in the
region but internationally," Haley told reporters after the closed-door
briefing and discussions that lasted over 1? hours.

Nearly two months of political unrest were set off by the attempt by
President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government to nullify the
opposition-controlled congress in late March. But demonstrations have
escalated into a vehicle for airing grievances against the government
for triple-digit inflation, food shortages and a rise in crime.

The opposition blames the bloodshed on state security forces using
excessive force and on groups of armed, pro-government civilians known
as "colectivos." Maduro says far-right extremists are working with
criminal gangs to foment the violence.

Haley said the meeting was aimed at conflict prevention, not council
action, and sought to put light on what is happening in Venezuela.

"We've seen 150 political prisoners, over 1,500 arrests and clearly
we're starting to see serious instability in Venezuela," she said.
"We've been down this road with Syria, North Korea, South Sudan,
Burundi, with Burma," which is now known as Myanmar.

Haley said rather than waiting for the Venezuela situation to become so
serious that there has to be a Security Council meeting, "Why not try
and stop a problem before it starts?"

Venezuela's Ramirez accused the United States of pushing to "intervene
in our country," as his government alleges Washington has tried to do in
the past. He called Venezuela's problems a domestic matter and said
Maduro's government is trying to resolve them and will not allow any
outside interference.

"We will never be a threat against the peace and security in international or the regional level," he insisted.

Ramirez stressed that Venezuela is not on the Security Council agenda
and said many council members "disagree with the U.S." and back his
government's position that it shouldn't be there.

International pressure on the troubled South American nation has been
increasing, with the Organization of American States voting Monday to
hold a rare foreign ministers' meeting later this month to discuss the
crisis. Venezuela officially notified the OAS on April 28 that it
intends to quit the regional group.

Britain's U.N. ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, said it is "absolutely
right" that the OAS and the 33-nation Community of Latin American and
Caribbean States are taking the lead, "but it is also right that the
Security Council, charged as we are on the maintenance of security and
peace ... keep a very close eye on the situation."

He warned that if things go wrong, Venezuela could "descend into
conflict" and threaten international peace and security. "And so we need
to act, in whatever way we can, starting with our discussion today," he
said.

Ramirez dismissed Britain, saying it was following the U.S.

He said Venezuela prefers the regional approach, noting that Pope Francis has offered help and the former presidents of the Dominican Republic,
Spain and Panama are talking to both sides. He said Maduro's government
also believes in CELAC and UNASUR, which comprises 12 South American
nations.

U.N. Ambassador Sacha Llorentty Soliz of Bolivia, whose government is an
ally of Venezuela, said Wednesday's council meeting interfered with
regional efforts to resolve the political dispute.

"It doesn't help at all because the United States is not a mediator," he said.

He said the U.S. supports the Venezuelan opposition and "that's why this
meeting instead of helping solving the problem — it will really be an
obstacle."

There was no statement from the council after the meeting, reflecting the division among members.

Uruguay's U.N. ambassador, Elbio Rosselli, this month's council
president, said his government favors a regional approach and is working
with many other countries to help the political factions in Venezuela
resolve the crisis.

"If the Colombians could overcome 50 years of war in a peaceful manner,
I'm pretty sure our brothers in Venezuela can take the lesson and do
likewise," Rosselli said.

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Put Guahu / About Me

This blog is dedicated to Chamorro issues, the use and revitalization of the Chamoru language and the decolonization of Guam. This blog also aims to inform people around the world about the history, culture and language and struggles of the Chamorro people, who are the indigenous islanders of Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Luta and Pagan in the Mariana Islands. Pues Haggannaihon ha', ya taitai na'ya, ya Si Yu'us Ma'ase para i finatto-mu.

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The Revolution Will Not Be Haolified

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE HAOLIFIEDTinige’ as Guahu - 2003 (updated 2008)

You will not be able to ignore it che’lu * This time you will not be able to blame it all on Anghet * You will not be able to change channels * And watch Fear Factor, Rev TV of Salamat Po Guam because * The Revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised, nor will it be advertised * It will not be sponsored by the Good Guys at Moylan’s or the better guys at AK. * It will not be something easily explained by radio callers * Whether they be Positively Local, Definitively Settler, or Surprisingly Coconut * It will not be cornered by the Calvos and explained by Sabrina Salas * Matanane * After the story about the incoming B-52’s or 1000’s of Marines careening towards to Guam, and how we * should be economically energized and not terrorized. * Jon Anderson will have no TT anecdotes about it * and Chris Barnett won’t malafunkshun it because the revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised or editorialized * It will not be something canabilized with two inches here two inches there * Dubious headlines everywhere * Lee Weber will not edit it * Joe Murphy will not put it in his pipe and smoke it * Nor dream about it, or tell others the wonders and blunders of it. * There will be no letters to the editor quoting scriptures or denying its constitutionality * And there will be no American flag inserts saying these three colors just don’t run * As the revolution will not be editorialized

The revolution will not be televised or politicized * It will not play the same old gayu games * And promise you that same old talonan things. * The revolution will not wave at you as you drive by on Marine Drive * And seduce you with its hardworking eyes. * It will not be territorial or popular, and not encourage you with maolek blue. * The revolution will not put marang salaman po after its speeches to get more Filipino votes in the next election because the revolution will not be politicized

The revolution will not be televised, not be theorized * It will not be something GCC or UOG friendly. * There will be no books at Bestseller offering to help you lose something in 90 days * Or Rachel Ray helping you cook the revolution of your way. * Ron McNinch will not survey it * and will not poll people about their revolution of choice. * There will be no WASC review report demanding accountability demanding autonomy * And no beachcombing carpetbaggers will proclaim their own terminal authority * Over the histories, the laws, the thinking of those for whom they see nothing but corrupt and corrupting inferiority * The revolution will not be colonized

The revolution will not be televised, not be supersized. * The revolution will not be something you can buy at Ross, or get at blue light cost * It is not just red rice, kelaguan uhang, or popcorn with Tobacco sauce. * It doesn’t come with Coke and it doesn’t fit on a fiesta plate. * The revolution will not make you gof sinexy, cure your jafjaf, or make fragrant your fa’fa’ * The revolution will not force you to be where America’s empire begins * Or where Japan’s golf courses and Gerry Yingling’s credit card debt ends. * You won’t need a credit card, or be charged for the tin foil to cover your balutan * As the revolution will not be economized

The revolution will not be televised, blownback or militarized * There will be no more physical ordnance buried in people’s lands * And no more patrionizing propaganda buried in people’s minds * The revolution will not get you cheaper cases of chicken or increased commissary privileges. * It will not make freedomless flags feel more comfortable in your hands * Or make uniforms fit more snugly around your mind. * The revolution will not deny racism or exploitation * And not create histories about landfalls of destiny * But instead publicize the racism and evils of American hegemony. * The revolution will not be subsidized by construction contracts or the race of Senator Inouye or Congressman Burton * It will not be laid waste to by daisy cut budgets or Medicare spending limits * Instead it will be sustained by deep memories that refuse to die * The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised and will not polarize based on blood or color * It will not make your skin lighter * It will not make your skin darker * It will not test your blood the way Hitler or Uncle Sam would of done * It will not hate some and love others based on their time of naturalization * Or incept date of their compacts of free association. * But the revolution will help some find comfort, find strength, find power * In their connections to the land and to each other * Allow some to discover the sovereignty that can be found in solidarity * The revolution will take and remake this consciousness that doesn’t need to be televised * But does need to be revolutionized * The revolution will not be haolified * The revolution will not be haolified